Even though my courses at Georgia Tech take up a lot of time, I have managed to make time for some ery exciting, enriching, fun-filled jobs!
I did my first internship at Pardot this past summer. I learned a variety of things at this small B2B marketing firm- not only about computer science, but about strategies and company culture. I did a lot of software and web development work, and I learned some JavaScript and AJAX, in addition to strengthening my PHP skills. Moreover, in my time outside of work, I took initiative and wrote a guide for new, incoming programmers so that they could also have a smooth transition into the company. The guide was a success, and it is still being used today in the company.
Since August of 2006, I have been a Teaching Assistant (TA). Being a TA has been more of a learning experience than anything else. It has really improved my communication skills, since I have to deal with other TAs as well as students and professors. Is also requires skills such as organization and time management. Moreover, it deepens my understanding of the subject that I am teaching. I first started out teaching Introduction to Media Computation. However, starting August 2007, I moved up a few levels and started teaching a systems course: Computer Organization and Programming. Although the systems course takes a lot more time, it has also taught me many different concepts and perspectives about systems that I did not discover when I was in the course myself. I hope to continue TAing for the rest of my time at Georgia Tech. In Fall 2008, I became the Head TA for this course: I am looking forward to a really exciting and fun semester filled with more learning! My new responsibilities include making recitation plans, planning for meetings, and coordinating the course between 100 students, 5 TAs, and the professor.
In January 2006, I was selected as one of eight people, out of the entire College of Computing, to participate in a research program called Intel Opportunity Scholars, funded by Intel. During the first semester, I tried to figure out what type of research I wanted to do. After much exploration and many visits to various research groups on-campus, I finally decided to start doing research on robotics. After a year of research, I won second place at the yearly research competition, so it has been a very rewarding experience (no pun intended)! After a second year of research, I placed third for the newer research. I also won the People's Choice award. Moreover, I competed in the Undergraduate Opportunities in Computing research competition (college-wide), and my research also won the People's Choice award there. I have learned a lot, and I cannot wait to apply everything that I learned to my independent research project. You can read more about my research in my blog.
Last but not least, I held one job in high school. As always, academics always came first, so I only worked six hours a week. However, because of my experiences at KUMON, I knew that TAing was a job that was perfect for me while I was in college. KUMON is a program for students that helps them learn and improve math and language art skills. I worked at my local KUMON center, and after just a few months, I became the head of all of the student workers that were there. Moreover, I taught three- to six-year-old children the basics of mathematics and taught them how to read. This job really made me adapt to different learning styles.